Between the World and Me (Coates) [brief Book Review]

[rebeccmeister]

Ta-Nehisi Coates has recently received increased attention because of an article he published in The Atlantic. I'd heard his name mentioned enough times by enough different people to decide I should pick up and read Between the World and Me. And yes, it is a thoughtful and helpful work, and one that white people especially should listen to.

Two themes resonated: the concept of life at its fullest as an ongoing struggle. And, how Coates outlines how people who need to think of themselves as white have physically built their society out of black bodies. This notion is an uncomfortable truth, but strongly reminded me of reading The Body in Pain, which more broadly posits the same idea. Never lose sight of the awareness of the role of physical human labor in generating and maintaining human societies.

I am interested in continuing to work on how to foster a tolerant, inclusive, and fair society. I would love to encourage high school students to read and discuss Between the World and Me.

Comments

[ivy]

I loved "Between the World and Me", both for the interrogative dialogue, its depictions of being a black atheist, and for being peculiarly enlightening to me about the experiences of living in a place at a time... Coates and I were both in PG County for many of the same years. I got stopped by the cops for nothing and harassed on my way home from a nightclub. I thought that was unacceptable police corruption. His friend was shot and killed for nothing. Oh, fuck. Got it. That contrast and similarity allowed me to more deeply relate to his work, albeit painfully. I've been a fan ever since -- I picked up "Black Panther" originally because I heard he was writing it. (And it's great.)

[altamira16]

One of my early jobs in Maryland was with a black woman who grew up in Baltimore City, and I learned a lot from her.

[altamira16]

I thought that his piece The Case for Reparations was a stronger piece than his more recent one. I felt like we already knew a lot of what he was saying in his most recent piece. I am not sure if I just new a lot of it because I read so many black writers on Twitter or for some other reason though.